One of the teachers I work with read this as a text for surprising story structure and problem/solution exploration. I really loved the message and thOne of the teachers I work with read this as a text for surprising story structure and problem/solution exploration. I really loved the message and the kids' (first grade) reactions.
Mara lives in Sametown where everything is the same, but dares to be different. In the talent show, she wants to dance while everyone else is performing magic tricks. Everyone tries to dissuade her from being in the talent show, and the reason for this isn't clear until the end.
This is an excellent text to model problem/solution for young children, and to get them to think deeper about people in our community, and about how ability can show in a lot of different ways. It's also a fun book to show how the setting can feed into the problem, which was one of the things I talked about with my small group of students when reading this.
This will definitely be a book I want for my collection....more
I'm proud of myself for going into this one blind and without any expectations, because I really enjoyed it.
An unnamed narrator and his family climb iI'm proud of myself for going into this one blind and without any expectations, because I really enjoyed it.
An unnamed narrator and his family climb into their old car to go on a trip to Havana to celebrate the birth of a newborn cousin. But first, the boy and his father have to get out the toolbox to figure out what's wrong with the old Cara Cara this time.
At first, the reader thinks that the family's car is just old, but slowly we realize that a lot of the cars on the highway to Havana make interesting noises (although some are the fancy souped-up ones).
I love the onomatopoeia Margarita Engle uses to show this. The car says "cara cara" and "cluck cluck cluck" like hens and "putt putt putt." It's interesting to look at the way this is portrayed through the vibrant illustrations of Cuba coupled with these sound words.
As for the illustrations, I don't know if I've ever read a children's picture book that takes me there in quite the same ways. Illustrator Mike Curato takes me back to the streets of the Dominican Republic with all the cars and roads; the potholes and dogs and chickens. Though Cuba is a different country, this brought back some fun memories of Dominican roads.
So, why is the car so old? Why are all the cars like that? An author's note at the end says that
Due to a complex historical situation, many of the American cars on the island of Cuba are pre-1959 and so old that parts under the hood have been replaced many times.
Wow. Makes my family's 2006 Kia seem like it's in great working condition!
I like the way this is revealed in this story as well. It's not explicitly stated that Cara Cara is old, or that most Cuban cars are. Instead, it's presented through the aforementioned illustrations and onomatopoeia that work together to reveal this unexpected piece of history.
I definitely recommend All the Way to Havana as a strong book that captures the poverty that Cuba faces as well as the necessity of home repairs and upcycling in this country. I do wish there was a bit more either in the text itself or at least in the author's note about the "complex historical situation" between Cuba and the US that led to this poverty. However, for younger readers, I think All the Way to Havana paints a strong picture of what life is like in less fortunate areas of the world.
Through poetic text, Zoboi introduces a comprehensive (although not necessarily complete) history of black people in America. Starting with the slave Through poetic text, Zoboi introduces a comprehensive (although not necessarily complete) history of black people in America. Starting with the slave trade, Zoboi describes how the people remember slavery and the greed of African kings, as well as the unity people had to embrace to force an end to slavery.
The people remember this was a time of war.
The men with the guns, skin like a pale sun, the men with the whips, the men on the ships
watched the people leave their land, never to return as their bare feet left footprints in the sand.
With each era in black history, Zoboi ends the section with one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
The Ashanti and the Fulani, the Empire of Mali,
the Hausa and the Ibo as well as the Kongo
the Yoruba and Akan the Empire of Songhai,
the Kingdom of Dahomey the Mende and the Fon—
The people remember they were now all one.
UMOJA. Unity.
This format continues, addressing slavery and escape (Kujichagulia - self-determination),
The people remember ... they can change a time, a today, a tomorrow, but never the past.
The people remember that they have the power to change this nation.
Reconstruction and the Great Migration (Ujima - collective work and responsibility), the beginning of de jure segregation and the self- and community-reliance and resilience of black communities North and South (Ujamaa - collective economics), the Civil Rights Movement (Nia - Purpose), the Black Power movement through activism and art (Kuumba - creativity), and the election of Obama and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement (Imani - faith).
The People Remember is a must-have for introducing Black History Month concepts in a classroom setting. It teaches history in a connecting and uplifting way that prioritizes movements and the idea of "the people" as a collective for change.
I do realize there are some things that are lacking, such as the black LGBT community and the representation of children in the movements in general, but overall this presents an excellent introduction to the connections that got us to where we are today in terms of race relations and the current movements. I think that with scaffolding or surrounding lessons both for text complexity and especially for content, The People Remember offers an overarching look at black history that students could comprehend at even a first or second grade level. Older students could use The People Remember as a jumping-off point for a research project on these different eras for black history month (or any time, but we all know how school systems work in terms of this kind of thing).
Overall, a definite 5-star read, and I'm definitely adding this one to the wish list.
In Tar Beach, Cassie flies over the segregated town to create a better life for her family. Although this part is fantasy, there's a lot depicted abouIn Tar Beach, Cassie flies over the segregated town to create a better life for her family. Although this part is fantasy, there's a lot depicted about the inequality that people of color faced in the 1930s and throughout the century (and into today). By flying over the buildings and bridges her father has helped create (but gets no credit for), Cassie can claim them as her own, for herself or her family, those whose hard work went into the construction and who will get no credit.
While much of the content might fly over younger readers' heads (pun so intended), Tar Beach is an important and accessible book to teach history. Unlike some of the harder texts, it doesn't address the injustices indirectly, although they're definitely there. While older students could use Tar Beach to try to interpret meaning behind flying symbolism used by enslaved peoples, it also works as an introduction to these issues for younger readers.
I love Ringgold's illustrations and what she says about them as well. The quilts that act as the borders, as well as the artwork itself, do a lot to enhance the story. Ringgold talks about the quilts at the end, and about how her interest in quilting came from the story quilts that go back to the ones enslaved people made. She talks about how this story brings together generations of black people who have been working toward the same goals.
The title is a reference to the rooftop that author Faith Ringgold spent her time on as a child. From this "tar beach," Cassie can see everything in the city.
Even though it may be a little beyond the kids' understanding, I do plan on bringing this one in at work as well in the coming week. I think they'll get a lot out of it.
Of the two marsupial books I read for this, I liked this one a lot more. Although it doesn't contain as much broad
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Marsupials by Nic Bishop
Of the two marsupial books I read for this, I liked this one a lot more. Although it doesn't contain as much broad information or as many specifics, the information it does contain is concise and accessible. The text and photograph pairings stand out a lot more as making sense. I think this is because the photographs are more featured.
I hadn't realized Nic Bishop (another prolific name I haven't spent much time with) did all his own photography, but the way he talks about his experiences with the animals while photographing alongside the information provided makes for a really enjoyable read. I dabble in photography myself, and the patience you'd have to have to capture some of these elusive animals is extraordinary. I don't think I could do it, especially in some of the world's harshest climates in Australia.
Because the book focuses on Bishop's photography tour, all the animals featured are Australian. I love being able to experience this one through a photographer's eyes. And Bishop's patience definitely paid off, these photos are gorgeous, and some of them are so close up. I love this.
Most of the Chinese New Year books we see depict celebrations held by those who have plenty. But what happens when families don't have much to eat aroMost of the Chinese New Year books we see depict celebrations held by those who have plenty. But what happens when families don't have much to eat around special holidays? The Runaway Rice Cake presents a humorous yet thought-provoking answer to this question.
The Chang family only has enough flour for one Nián gāo, or rice cake, for their Lunar New Year celebration. But once it's out of the steamer, it comes alive, and with an "Ai yo, I don't think so!" it runs away. It runs past pigs and chickens and all through town, and the Changs run past it, but no one can catch it. Finally, it runs into an old woman, and the Changs catch up to it there. The youngest child suggests sharing the rice cake with the old woman, who hasn't eaten in days, and the two older sons grumble, but eventually the family agrees. But the woman accidentally eats all of it, and the Changs are left with nothing. When they return home, neighbors who saw what happened (the people from the earlier scenes throughout the city) offer food, and the Changs gratefully accept. But when they get it home, they find their kitchen god has rewarded them with a big feast.
I really enjoyed this one. It's a good example of showing how holidays can affect families in different ways, even if they cannot practice their celebrations the way we've been taught that "all" people of a certain background practice. I think a lot of kids from all cultural backgrounds could relate to the idea of not having what you want for a special day, even down to far more trivial things like not receiving a coveted gift, or still having to go to school on their birthday. Even though the Changs' situation is much more serious, this brings up a good way for kids to make connections across cultures and to think about perspectives.
I really appreciated the characters in this one. While the main conflict is the titular runaway rice cake, there is also a conflict of interest within the family. The two older sons, Cong and Ming, are most concerned with filling their bellies, and what will benefit the family in the short term. In contrast, Da, the youngest, is almost a Tiny Tim figure in the way he wants everyone to be happy, far beyond the family. He is the ideal child, a figurehead for the rest of the family.
I also appreciated how much emphasis this put on domestic Chinese New Year traditions. The beginning scenes depict the family's send-off to their kitchen god and the reasons behind the traditions. The kitchen gods play a central role as the family returns as well. I also like that the reasons for all the different foods are included. As someone who has foods we like to make for holidays, but no particular reasoning behind them, I liked learning about all the reasons behind the foods in this one.
I loved Tungwai Chau's illustrations as well. They're influenced by traditional Chinese painting techniques and brushstrokes, and they're adorable. The facial expressions on each page are spot on.
Both author Ying Chang Compestine and illustrator Tungwai Chau are own voices creators, from China and Hong Kong respectively. I love to see this, especially because it seems so many books set in Asia are still often written by non-Asians. Compestine and Chau make the story come alive with their experiences.
Back matter contains a note about some traditions concerning kitchen gods and foods, as well as two recipes for Nián gāo. I also appreciate that there's a glossary / pronunciation guide for the Chinese terms from the book in the front instead of in the back, because this can be helpful for previewing these unfamiliar terms.
I think The Runaway Rice Cake would work best as a read-aloud for kids 6-9, or for kind that age to read on their own.
What's in Your Pocket?: Collecting Nature's Treasures first caught my eye because, let's face it, it reminds me of my kids. Over the past year I've foWhat's in Your Pocket?: Collecting Nature's Treasures first caught my eye because, let's face it, it reminds me of my kids. Over the past year I've fought them over bringing many things inside, from rocks to acorns to live ladybugs. On one of my first days with the K-1 group, even before I realized that I was in love with this age group, they made a project of planting a tree out of a found acorn in a mud pile, with water from a littered water bottle. I love to visualize them as budding scientists, as What's in Your Pocket? suggests.
What's in Your Pocket? introduces the collecting habits of many naturalists. It explores Charles Darwin and Jane Goodall as well as names that are far less known such as Maria Sybilla Merian, who discovered that caterpillars turn into butterflies, and William Beebe, the first person to see deep-sea fish in their natural environment.
I love the emphasis this book places on women and people of color in times when these people weren't considered the right look for "scientists." Significant names include George Washington Carver, a naturalist born into slavery who discovered many uses for peanuts through his farm work, and Mary Anning, the first paleontologist in the 19th century.
The text is simple enough that the story could work for younger readers, but would also appeal to older kids as they come to learn more about science and scientists and consciously realize that "common" knowledge takes time and generations.
Again, I like this for kids who love exploring to see themselves as scientists....more
Review 6/25/23 I still love this book as much as the first time I read it. I appreciate the story of two strong women who defied expectations. I feel lReview 6/25/23 I still love this book as much as the first time I read it. I appreciate the story of two strong women who defied expectations. I feel like we often forget that various historical figures were contemporaries of each other, and without this book, I don't know if I would have thought of Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart in the same time period.
I find Brian Selznick's detailed black and white illustrations to be an interesting choice for this book. While I appreciate and enjoy Selznick's work, the lack of color in a book like this is surprising at first. It grows on me, though, when thinking about the time period. In the 1930s, photographs were black and white, and this creates a nostalgic and realistic quality.
In many books about Amelia Earhart, I don't know if it's discussed as much what it meant to be a woman flying a plane just ten years after their invention. I like that Pam Muñoz Ryan addresses this in the way both Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt were adventurous women of their time, and specifically highlights the fact that people didn't think women should have these roles. It's super important to teach the struggles and opposition that have led to diversity, and this book is a good step in the right direction regarding those values.
*(view spoiler)[Read for Children's Book Group (Picture Book Club) - May 2023 Aviation(hide spoiler)] --------------------------------- Review 6/8/22 Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride is the true account of Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt when they decided, at a White House dinner, that they wanted to go for a spontaneous night flight around DC. This book is well researched and uses a lot of dialogue that depicts girl power in a changing world (the 1930s and 40s, a powerful time for women).
Most people know that Amelia Earhart was the first woman to complete a solo trans-Atlantic flight, but I definitely didn't know that Eleanor Roosevelt had a Junior Pilot's License, which Earhart encouraged her to get. I love that this book is truly a story of two friends exploring their own girl power before it's anything political.
It's always a lot of fun to read these sort of micro-biographies. I don't know if there's a term for a book that would be a memoir if it were written by the subject, but there definitely should be, especially in children's literature and picture books.
This book is well researched and uses direct quotes when available. Pam Muñoz Ryan includes an author's note at the end discussing how she came to learn about this event and how she researched further into it to make sure it actually happened and she was depicting it well. Her story is accompanied by black and white illustrations in the classic Brian Selznick style....more
I recognized this one from my childhood when I've seen it in the education curriculum library, and I think I must have read it multiple times, becauseI recognized this one from my childhood when I've seen it in the education curriculum library, and I think I must have read it multiple times, because I remembered it once I'd read it, but it wasn't one that sticks out as a favorite. Revisiting it with a student, though, I enjoyed it a lot.
Lily is a cow who can't walk neatly in line with the other bell cows. Instead, she wants to dance. The other bell cows make fun of her and do not think she can ever be a farm cow. So, with a letter in rhyme to her family, Lily decides to leave the farm in search of a world of dance.
You definitely have to be young enough to suspend all disbelief to appreciate this story. Lily is the only animal among all humans at the locations she dances at. While this is funny, many students would be quick to point out how unrealistic it is, especially since there are no other animals involved in the story, aside from Lily's herd on the farm.
Luckily, this book does a lot to scaffold young readers. While the regular text is written as prose, the letters Lily sends home are all rhyming quatrains. Students will notice how these two texts types are different, and the rhymes are often grade-level sight words, making this story perfect for readers who are learning to decode. It is a great option for partner reading between a more skilled reader and an early reader because of these structures.
As for the story, it says a lot about finding our place in a world that doesn't know how to accept us for who we are. Students can trace Lily's journey and see how she discovers what fits her. I know every person has had a feeling that they don't fit in, so this book is perfect to show students that there is always a place for them.
I definitely want to get this one for my future classroom.
Once I had a theme for the writing unit I was planning (more on that in my review for Incredible Inventions), I decided to focus my expository poetry Once I had a theme for the writing unit I was planning (more on that in my review for Incredible Inventions), I decided to focus my expository poetry teaching on noun categories, or people, places, and things. I remembered working with this one for another lesson plan a while back, and thought that it would be a fun one for the idea of specific places as poetry topics.
Starting in the Northeast, making its way through the Midwest and Great Plains to the West Coast, and then doing a weird loop back through the Southwest, the Southeast, and all the way to Washington, D.C., poet Diane Siebert takes us across the country. Siebert wrote all these poems as she traveled to each location, and you can tell she spent a lot of time in each one. Because of this, Tour America is a great mentor text for teaching imagery and the ways we can appeal to all the senses in writing. I've never been to many of these places, and some of them I hadn't even heard of. However, through Tour America I can begin to feel like I've been with Siebert on her travels across the country.
Impressive illustrations by Stephen T. Johnson accompany each poem. Johnson uses a variety of paints; drawing tools; and collage materials sometimes on their own and sometimes in combination, to create unique artwork based primarily on Diane Siebert's words. This would be a great way to introduce this idea of imagery and creating an image from a piece of writing, especially if you read Johnson's introduction on how he used Siebert's writing to create his images.
However, this rich imagery piece has a downside as well. For children who haven't traveled much, and especially for newcomers to the country, these places can also be difficult to connect to. We can't expect every child to know what a gargoyle is, or even a train. There is some vocabulary in this book that would need to be pre-taught, or learned in another way and reviewed before reading, if this is a whole class book. Students who choose to read this book on their own would have to recognize that this could be a struggle and would have to work with the teacher or other resources in the classroom to figure out how to overcome this knowledge gap. For this reason, I don't necessarily recommend this book, especially for writing instruction, until at least late second grade, and probably even later. However, for students who are willing to overcome this obstacle, this could be a positive challenge.
While I really do enjoy this book, I can appreciate that it wouldn't be great in every classroom. I'm not sure whether I want to spend money on this title as of yet. It's really good, but I think it may also be learner- and/or lesson-specific.
*(view spoiler)[Read for: Elementary Writing Methods Spring 2022 - mentor text for expository nonfiction poetry for writing unit project (hide spoiler)]...more
I used Panda Kindergarten as my third and final book in my exploration of animal friendships and animal needs with my student this summer. This one waI used Panda Kindergarten as my third and final book in my exploration of animal friendships and animal needs with my student this summer. This one was a lot of fun, and I liked the way it depicted the life of the pandas from birth to going to the "kindergarten" group. It is also a good one for getting students to react, as there is some information that is provided that gets students to both feel for animals and think about solutions.
Pandas often have twins, but a mother can only care for one cub at a time.
This my student reacted to this ("aww, that's so sad") but was prompted to think about what, based on the title, we might learn to help this. In this way, Panda Kindergarten can be a good book for kids to learn to use both context and clues from the title to predict how things happen.
In terms of science standards relating to biology and the needs of various animals, I think Panda Kindergarten is also a strong book because it helps students to build background knowledge make connections right from the title. What do students (at any elementary level K-5) know about kindergarten, something most of them have personal experience with? What kinds of things do we learn in kindergarten? How might that be similar or different to what a panda would learn in kindergarten? (Yes, my student's first response was "learn to read... but pandas don't read..."). This connection is something readers can follow throughout the book, and it helps students to work with questions as well as connections. I actually had my student keep a running record of questions while we were reading, and one of the ones she asked was, "who teaches them?" I thought that was a good way of understanding the connection between kindergarten and panda kindergarten.
As for the photography, I really like the selection. It really does take me there, and I appreciate how the pictures do show the growth, however small, of the pandas from page to page.
I imagine the HarperCollins branch that published this has a selection of animal books that follow the exact same format as Panda Kindergarten. I noticed after reading Tiger Pups that the format of the text and pictures was basically the same, and I imagine there has to be others out there. I'd guess this can get boring for students who notice, but it can also be good for making text-to-media connections and learning about formats in nonfiction, and can be useful for struggling readers to compare and locate what they can learn from certain grade-level appropriate nonfiction.
In terms of nonfiction features, Panda Kindergarten and similar books don't really utilize much beyond the text and the images. This can be a good book for generating captions, but it may not be the best text to teach text features. There are a few facts at the end, but no bibliography or further reading, which is disappointing, especially since I remember seeing something where there were two more books in a collection relating to the pandas in the Wolong Nature Preserve where Panda Kindergarten takes place, and now I can't find them....more
I've now had experiences with three different kids for Tiger Pups by Tom and Allie Harvey, and I added it to my permanent collection in May (thank youI've now had experiences with three different kids for Tiger Pups by Tom and Allie Harvey, and I added it to my permanent collection in May (thank you, thriftbooks).
I really do love animal friendships, and the story in Tiger Pups honestly amazes me. Three tiger cubs are stranded by their mother after day one. They live in a wildlife sanctuary, and the owners take them in. What surprises me is that the dog and the tigers adapt to each other so easily, and the dog is actually able to nurse the tigers. I guess theoretically it makes sense since the tigers are about the size of large puppies, but to me it seems like the Harveys took a big gamble. How did they know it would work? And would it technically work with any mammal of similar sizes? Lots to think about here.
I first read this multiple times with a kid who wanted to read it over and over again when I was working with a program with him in middle school. He was probably five or six at the time, and I can't even remember what the appeal for this book was for him. I don't know if I even asked at the time (I had no idea about any of the things I know now related to learning to read, I'll repeat I was in middle school).
I remembered this book again with another student who was a similar age this past spring, but she definitely struggled with it. I'm not sure if it was because she had preconceived ideas that dogs and tigers would hurt each other. Perhaps Tiger Pups is a book that involves more preteaching and providing background knowledge if I were to use it with a class of younger students. I feel like there is a lot that kids need to know about animal needs and also about the similarities and differences between various animals before they can be expected to understand this book and appreciate it as reality in an unusual situation, rather than as a fantasy where all animals get along all the time. Interspecies animal friendships are definitely real, but also fairly uncommon.
I recently approached this with a much older student. It was the second book of three that we looked at in terms of animal relationships and animal needs. I'm not sure if her had more to do with the age of the student or the approach to content, but she was able to connect it a lot better.
I would definitely recommend using this book as something beyond just a read aloud at any age. Students do need to know more about the science and possibility behind this kind of relationship before it can be believable. Compared to Owen and Mzee, it's different because it's a human-influenced or induced friendship between animals of a species that wouldn't usually interact.
As an aside, with all of these animal friendships books, I would be interested in knowing more about the conditions that could cause animals to build up this sort of relationship with a member of another species in the wild.
Once again, a little upset at the lack of any further information beyond what's provided in the book....more
Sunny Boy is a tortoise who loves the quiet life. He loves to bask in the sunlight and has always done so with his three preThis one was a lot of fun!
Sunny Boy is a tortoise who loves the quiet life. He loves to bask in the sunlight and has always done so with his three previous scholarly owners Pelonius, Cornelius, and Augustus. But alas! Men do not live as long as tortoises! And so he has outlived them all and gone to live with each one's nephew. His fourth home is with Cornelius's nephew, Biff, and Biff is very different from the first three. He's a daredevil, and this scares Sunny Boy to no end. Biff takes Sunny Boy along to all of his stunts, where he fails miserably and becomes more determined. Then, he decides to try the most daring one yet: a barrel down Niagara Falls.
I chose Sunny Boy!: The Life and Times of a Tortoise for a tutoring component in one of my classes for my reading endorsement, and I went into the first tutoring session thinking I was going to be tutoring a fourth grade boy who was (by others' accounts) a nonreader. It turned out that this child had left the program, so I had to do a fourth grade lesson plan with a first grade student and had to adapt a lot of my questions on the fly. This is one of the reasons I love the illustrations used in this book. I was planning to use the text more than the pictures for a fourth grade lesson plan, but I needed to change that around so I could have the student go back and find evidence, and Anne Wilsdorf's illustrations do a great job of capturing emotions, especially those of Sunny Boy. This was what I based a lot of my questions around during my lesson plan, making it easier to adapt to lower grade-level standards.
It's also great that this book has content that is relevant and enjoyable to students at many different levels. When I was looking for a book for this first tutoring session, I wanted to choose the least assumptive book I could find that could work for a fourth grader's level. By that I mean that I didn't want any books that focused on any particular real-world problem or had a particular topic focus beyond just "adventure" or something else vague. I found Sunny Boy! at the curriculum library at my university, and it seemed like a good choice.
I'm glad I found this one, because I had a lot of fun with it. It's definitely something I'd want to use in my future classroom with students at any level first grade through fourth or fifth.
I've read Ready to Fly four times. I've also cried four times while reading it, at the exact same spot every time.
I first found this at the education I've read Ready to Fly four times. I've also cried four times while reading it, at the exact same spot every time.
I first found this at the education curriculum library back in February when I needed a break while studying. Since then, I’ve read it two or three more times and I’ve never been able to get through it without crying at a specific part that’s kind of the climax of the story. Ready to Fly is short and sweet but still very moving. The author duo and illustrator use simple words and illustrations to convey something far beyond the words themselves.
A book like Ready to Fly is a good way to introduce difficult topics such as the Civil Rights Movement while keeping the story centered on the person and what they overcame despite these hardships and barriers. When teaching a book like this, we can’t ignore the difficulties people have faced (and continue to face) historically. What we can do is use these types of books to further our awareness of what is going on around us and the humans behind change.
I also love that the focus on this book is about young people facing these exclusions. So many times kids' earliest introduction to topics like Civil Rights (and even later on into middle school and high school) only discusses adults who made change. Books like Ready to Fly place real kids front and center in the Civil Rights Movement and show us that children are not too young to dream, and they are not too young to make a change.
On the other hand, I was a teaching assistant in a third-grade prep summer school classroom in an area with a high African American population this summer and The Story of Ruby Bridges was one of the choice reading books in the classroom. I approached an African American student who was reading it and asked her some questions about the book, including how long ago she thought this might have happened. She was very quick to reply with “hundreds and hundreds of years ago.” I tried not to sound shocked at her lack of knowledge of the things that were likely in her own grandparent’s generation, things that people she knows even could have experienced. I didn’t know how to react to that complete disconnect between the book she was reading and her own knowledge of discrimination in this country.
That was a long way of saying that with a book like Ready to Fly, you have to place the people in context. Sylvia Townsend is still alive today, and as far as I can tell she still teaches or at least works with ballet and other dance forms in the area where she grew up. She is in her late seventies. Dates and timelines need to be explicitly taught and children need to realize that many names we know from this period of history are either still alive or have died in the lifetimes of adults they know. A good way to teach this with children would be to read Ready to Fly and then point out the introduction by Townsend herself at the beginning of the book, and to remind students that Ready to Fly was written within their lifetimes, meaning that Townsend is alive today, meaning that the struggles she faced were not a very long time ago as some students may believe.
Aside from my rant about how this could be used to get students think critically about the Civil Rights Movement and place it in time as fairly recent, Ready to Fly is also a great tool for social-emotional learning, including practicing goal setting. Students can appreciate the way that Sylvia learns ballet from her books, and for older students this could also lead to an independent project where students read more nonfiction and learn how to do something (or read about a hobby they already have) and present something to the class based on what they’ve learned.
I think Ready to Fly would be appropriate for any grade level, though it would have to be a read aloud for younger grades because of the format and the interspersed ballet terms. It would work well as a read-aloud for any age, or as independent reading for students who are willing and able to take the time to research into the complexities, or who have a lot of ballet knowledge already.
Ready to Fly has risen to the top of my wish list for children's books and for things in general....more
Personally, I’d been wary of The Day the Crayons Quit and other books featuring sentient objects for a long time. I focused on the depiction of peoplePersonally, I’d been wary of The Day the Crayons Quit and other books featuring sentient objects for a long time. I focused on the depiction of people in children’s literature, and I wasn’t happy with a lot of children’s fantasy in general. I felt like it was less relatable, especially when featuring animals or objects instead of people (and particularly diverse people).
Working at the Boys and Girls Club changed this because we have to read and do activities with a variety of these fantasy novels. My 5–7-year-olds, who often have trouble staying engaged, really got into this one. My coworker and I were having trouble getting them to focus, because all they wanted to do was work on coloring sheets. I started reading and I asked them to name different colors on the page. They really liked that, and soon a few of them started bringing up their own crayons and colored pencils when I read the colors. Since that was what was keeping them engaged, I decided to turn it into a game. They loved it, and I got over my distaste of fantasy picture books. The kids were definitely connecting and reacting to the crayon’s feelings, and they had a chance to each feel special as they showed me the matching crayon colors from the communal box.
This book is great for assessing young students on color knowledge, or introducing new colors and vocabulary for them. All of the pages correspond to one color as the speaker by using that color for the text and almost all illustrations on that page. This is a skill that would work specifically with younger students who may not be able to name or recognize colors by name yet. Teachers could do this the way I did it and ask students to raise their hand and say the color, shout it out as a class, or hold up a crayon or another object that matches that color.
It also takes a deep look at all the different ways we can feel “bad,” and shows that one person’s “I don’t feel good” can look very different from another’s. It does this by introducing the cause for the emotions before using the color’s name, which is useful because it helps students focus on the kinds of things they feel and what makes them feel this way. Students who already have some background knowledge on feeling words could use this book as an exercise in predicting. Each crayon signs the end of its note with, “your very ___ friend, *color*. After introducing students to this format, students could read the notes and predict what the feeling word was going to be. This activity could be done in small groups or with printouts and cutouts of the pages.
For older students 2nd through 4th grade, this book could also be an exercise in making in-text connections, in comparing and contrasting, or even in evidence gathering. Many of the crayons have similar feelings to one another, but they express these differently. For instance, Red Crayon, Gray Crayon, and Blue Crayon all feel similar. Have students list two similarities and two differences, make a Venn diagram, or use another method to compare and contrast them using evidence from the text.
If this were a read-aloud book, you would absolutely have to consider different voices for the different colors and feelings. How does Red Crayon’s overuse look different from Gray Crayon’s? From Blue Crayon’s? What does Yellow Crayon and Orange Crayon’s argument sound like? Would you read it with more emphasis on one if you believe that one or the other is the true color of the sun? I was listening to a YouTube read aloud where the male reader made Pink Crayon sound the most masculine of all the colors, despite lines such as “please tell your little sister I said thank you for using me to colour in her ‘pretty princess’ colouring book,” with pink getting upset at being thought of as a feminine color only (Daywalt p.28). This is a stylistic choice that has to be taken into consideration because different ways of reading the crayon voices can completely change the inferred meaning of the crayons’ letters.
This is definitely a book I want to add to my classroom collection.
The Great Math Tattle Battle is a funny and sincere book that would easily appeal to kids in kindergarten through third grade.
Harley is the best math The Great Math Tattle Battle is a funny and sincere book that would easily appeal to kids in kindergarten through third grade.
Harley is the best math student in 2nd grade, but he's also the biggest tattletale, and he spends a lot of time writing notes to his teachers and staff about every little thing his classmates are doing, adding up the total times everyone makes a mistake. Harley is unrivaled in both math and notes until Emma Jean moves to town. For the first time, Harley has competition in both areas. Harley and Emma Jean have to learn to work together and complain less if they want to achieve anything meaningful in the classroom.
I think The Great Math Tattle Battle would make sense as a choice book for independent reading, maybe found in a collection of "school stories," but it could also work as a read aloud if a teacher notices there's too much tattling going on in the classroom. Jaime Zollars does a lot with facial expressions in her illustrations, making this a good book for social-emotional learning with a lot of questions regarding character emotions and evidence to support that, and then helping students to share how issues (such as tattling) make them feel.
One other thing I love is that The Great Math Tattle Battle represents male and female students equally in terms of academic strengths, and also in terms of who we see in the classroom. The illustrations add a lot to this, and it's clear Anne Bowen and Jaime Zollars strive for equal representation throughout the story.
I would definitely love to see this book in my classroom in the future....more